An Evening of Poetry ~ March 7, 2012

An evening of poetry by local poets, established and emerging, hosted by Dawn Barbieri. The poets include Dawn Barbieri, Tammis Coffin, Susan Melot, Jan Hutchinson, Christine Ward and Claudette Webster.

Dawn Barbieri is a writer of poetry and short stories. She is a member of the Berkshire Writers Room and has read her works in different venues. Dawn is a musician (saxophones & percussion), and is passionate about teaching watercolor to adults. She lives with her husband in Housatonic, and has two grown children as well as a grandson.

Tammis Coffin is a local naturalist and educator who has led nature inspired writing groups at Bartholomew’s Cobble, The Summit House on Mount Holyoke, AMC Camp Noble View and Walden Pond. She has published two books of essays about natural and cultural landscapes.

Jan Hutchinson has been writing poetry (mostly in the closet) for over fifty years. For the last nine and a half years she has written at least one poem every day. In 2008, a collection of her poems, entitled Poems of Prayer and Heresy, was published locally . On March 7th she will be reading from poems, which could be grouped under the title “Aging with Imagined Grace,” about an older woman living in an empty nest with an imaginary friend named Grace. These poems have humor and poignancy.

Christine Ward is a Berkshire County native who delights in the natural world. Much of her working time is spent providing for the care of Lake Mansfield and the building and maintaining of trails in Great Barrington. But, when she escapes her desk, I am out and about – searching for the wonders that persist in every wild space. She is learning to quiet her own inner hubbub, to look and listen with greater attention. She is convinced that these moments of connection and clarity are the wellsprings that enrich and inform my own brief journey on this amazing planet.

Claudette Webster is a poet and teacher. A native of Jamaica, she holds two Master’s degrees in education and is currently working on her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Goddard College.